A photograph of an elderly man, taken by William Hope on 5 April 1920. A face appears over the man's image on the left of the photograph, covered in a cloak. Although indistinct, the man apparently identified the 'spirit' as an ex-work colleague who had died thirty two years earlier.

A photograph of an elderly man, taken by William Hope on 5 April 1920.

A face appears over the man's image on the left of the photograph, covered in a cloak. Although indistinct, the man apparently identified the 'spirit' as an ex-work colleague who had died thirty two years earlier. William Hope's spirit album photographs use double and triple exposure techniques to render the appearance of ghostly apparitions around the sitter.

Hope's work gained momentum in the aftermath of World War One, a time when many bereaved people were desperate to find evidence of loved ones living beyond the grave. Although his deception was publicly exposed by a private investigator, Harry Price (1881-1948), in 1922, Hope continued to practice.